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A Call to Action: The Best and Worst of 2012

Written by: Rocco Pendola12/18/12 - 7:43 AM EST

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NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- You can give me a free and easy holiday gift right here, right now.

Please share this article on your social networks, particularly Twitter and Facebook (FB) . We even have share buttons available for your convenience, free of charge, just below the headline.

In this article I link to some worthy charities. My favorites. If you can and are inclined, consider throwing one or more of them a couple bucks.

The Best Has to Come Out of the Worst

I don't want to be a downer so I will get the serious stuff out of the way first, followed by a more lighthearted look back on 2012. But, it's that time of the year and, after what happened in Newtown Friday, I'll use whatever platform I have to raise a little awareness for great causes.

Plus, the best has to come out of the worst. You really have no other choice. Otherwise, you'll be even more anxious and depressed than the reality of our world predisposes us to be.

It must be because I'm getting older, but the tragedies that struck this year hit me harder than whatever chaos that took place in previous years.

It started in January of 2012 when I pretty much knew cancer was set to kill my mother-in-law. It went from her lungs to who knows where else, but it did what it does best when it got into her brain. She fought remarkably hard for more than two years, but that was it.

Her death also triggered the discovery of another great group that hates cancer and does something about it. A worthy Twitter follow and a great place to send a few spare dollars: a charity registered in the U.S. and Canada, F**K CANCER (Donate HERE) .

Every time you turn around somebody gets cancer. Too many die.

Newtown and Aurora

I have very few answers, only questions. That's probably best.

I'm not sure if the people of Newtown need your money, but they could use your support. The U.S. Postal Service set up a P.O. Box you can use to write to the residents of this devastated community:

P.O. Box 3700, Newtown, CT, 06470 .

A few months back, a gunman stormed into an Aurora, Colo. movie theater and killed a whole bunch of people who were just trying to having a night out. While every victim deserves space in an article like this, I single out one, simply because I had a very indirect connection to her.